JS, History, 1838–1856, vol. C-1, created 24 Feb. 1845–3 July 1845; handwriting of , , Jonathan Grimshaw, and ; 512 pages, plus 24 pages of addenda; CHL. This is the third volume of a six-volume manuscript history of the church. This third volume covers the period from 2 Nov. 1838 to 31 July 1842; the remaining five volumes, labeled A-1, B-1, D-1, E-1 and F-1, continue through 8 Aug. 1844.
Historical Introduction
This document, “History, 1838–1856, volume C-1 [2 November 1838–31 July 1842],” is the third of six volumes of the “Manuscript History of the Church” (in The Joseph Smith Papers the “Manuscript History” bears the editorial title “History, 1838–1856”). The completed six-volume collection covers the period from 23 December 1805 to 8 August 1844. The narrative in this volume commences on 2 November 1838 with JS and other church leaders being held prisoner by the “’s forces” at , Missouri, and concludes with the death of Bishop at , Illinois, on 31 July 1842. For a more complete discussion of the entire six-volume work, see the general introduction to this history.
Volume C-1 was created beginning on or just after 24 February 1845 and its narrative was completed by 3 May 1845, although some additional work continued on the volume through 3 July of that year (Richards, Journal, 24 and 28 Feb. 1845; Historian’s Office, Journal, 3 May 1845; 3 and 4 July 1845). It is in the handwriting of and contains 512 pages of primary text, plus 24 pages of addenda. Additional addenda for this volume were created at a later date as a supplementary document and appear in this collection as “History, 1838-1856, volume C-1 Addenda.” Compilers and Thomas Bullock drew heavily from JS’s letters, discourses, and diary entries; meeting minutes; church and other periodicals and journals; and reminiscences, recollections, and letters of church members and other contacts. At JS’s behest, Richards maintained the first-person, chronological-narrative format established in previous volumes, as if JS were the author. , , , and others reviewed and modified the manuscript prior to its eventual publication in the Salt Lake City newspaper Deseret News.
The historical narrative recorded in volume C-1 continued the account of JS’s life as prophet and president of the church. Critical events occurring within the forty-five-month period covered by this text include the Mormon War; subsequent legal trials of church leaders; expulsion of the Saints from Missouri; missionary efforts in by the and others; attempts by JS to obtain federal redress for the Missouri depredations; publication of the LDS Millennial Star in England; the migration of English converts to ; missionary efforts in other nations; the death of church patriarch ; the establishment of the city charter; the commencement of construction of the Nauvoo ; the expedition that facilitated temple construction; the introduction of the doctrine of proxy baptism for deceased persons; the dedicatory prayer by on the Mount of Olives in Palestine; publication of the “Book of Abraham” in the Nauvoo Times and Seasons; publication of the JS history often referred to as the “Wentworth letter;” the organization of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo; and the inception of Nauvoo-era temple endowment ceremonies.
<June 4 Joseph’s Bill of damages> for me to give any idea of the scene, which now presented itself in the Camp. The hideous yells of more than a thousand infuriated beings whose desire was to wreak their vengeance upon me and the rest of my Friends was truly awful, and enough to appal the stoutest heart. In the evening we had to lie down on the cold ground, surrounded by a strong guard, we petitioned the officers to know why we were thus treated, but they utterly refused to hold any conversation with us: The next day they held a Court Martial upon us, and sentenced me with the rest of the prisoners to be shot, which sentence was to be carried into effect on Friday morning in the public square as, they say, an ensample to the rest of the members, but through the kind providence of God, their murderous sentence was not carried into . The militia then went to my house, and drove my family out of doors under sanction of and carried away all my property— Having opportunity of speaking to , and on asking him the cause of such strange proceedings, I told him that I was a Democrat, and had always been a supporter of the Constitution— he answered “I know that, and that is the reason why I want to kill you, or have you killed” we were led into the Public Square, and after considerable entreaty, we were permitted to see our Families, being attended with a strong guard. I found my family in tears, expecting that they had carried into effect their sentence, they clung to my garments with weeping. I requested to have a private interview with my , in an adjoining room but was refused, when taking my departure from my family [HC 3:371] it was almost too painful for me, my child<ren> clung to me, and were thrust away at the point of the swords of the soldiery— we were then removed to under the care of , and during our stay there, we had to sleep on the floor with nothing but a mantle for our covering, and a stick of wood for our pillow, and had to pay for own board; While we were in , with his troops, arrived in , and sent an order for our return, holding out the inducement that we were to be reinstated to our former privileges; but instead of being taken to , we were taken to , where we were immured in prison and bound in Chains. After we were thus situated we were under the charge of of , who suffered us to be abused in every manner which the people thought proper: Our situation at this time was truly painful: we were taken before the court of enquiry, but in consequence of the proceeding of the Mob, and their threats we were not able to get such witnesses, as would have been serviceable; even those we had, were abused by the States attorney, and the Court, and were not permitted to be examined by the Court as the law directs— We were committed to and Petitioned for a writ of but owing to the prejudice of the Jailor, all communication was entirely cut off, however at length we succeeded in getting a petition conveyed to the , but he neglected to pay any attention to it for fourteen days, and kept us in suspence, [p. 951]